The chief virtue of Penelope Lynex’s two albums of Cello
Elegies and Romances is the eclectic selection she offers.
We get a few old favorites, like Casals’ “Song of the Birds”
and Fauré’s “Élégie,” mixed in with a lot of surprises: works
by Peter Dickinson and Wilfred Orr dedicated to the performer,
plus appearances by pianist-composers David Wilde (“The Cellist
of Sarajevo”) and Moritz Moszkowski, a suite by Isobel Dunlop,
and miniatures from the cellists David Popper and Paul Tortelier.

The first disc has more of a 19th-century bent than
the second, perhaps, since it includes a divine “Mélodie” by
Massenet, two works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, and a nearly
ten-minute “Élégie” by Alexander Glazunov. Casals’ “Song of
the Birds” is the poignant opener, and the standout is Lynex’s
highly impassioned reading of David Wilde’s solo work “The Cellist
of Sarajevo” - written in homage to a lone cellist who braved
the Bosnian war to play outside each day. To round things off,
Lynex and pianist Alexander Wells wheel out their own transcription
of the polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

The second disc has a few big names: Rachmaninov, in a miniature
romance, Fauré, in his moving elegy, Milhaud, and the cello
sonata by Claude Debussy. Balancing this out is Wilfred Orr’s
absolutely delightful - and familiar-sounding - “Midsummer Dance,”
dedicated to the performer, and elegies by Kenneth Leighton
and Isobel Dunlop. There are also a couple of surprises from
the 19th century cello master David Popper (a bubbly
mazurka) and Moritz Moszkowski (a convincing evocation of the
guitar).

So the musical choices are quite adventurous and welcome, and
the sound is quite close but without conceding any warmth. There
is an intermittent crackle in the left channel during the Leighton.
Alexander Wells is a sensitive accompanist; his bird-calls at
the beginning and end of the Casals are spine-tinglingly good,
as is his playing in the Dunlop elegy. The weak link is, alas,
cellist Penelope Lynex, a student of Paul Tortelier’s who is
renowned as a teacher and whose work with numerous contemporary
composers is evident in the recitals. Lynex’s cello tone can
be pinched and unsteady, with a forced sound and pitches wavering
unpleasantly at times. Occasionally vibrato spills over the
line from expressive force to irritation. If you can handle
cello playing which is not of the first rank, and the program
intrigues you, do invest; there are few other ways to hear,
for instance, Tortelier’s “Élégie” or C.W. Orr’s “Midsummer
Dance.” Additionally, Lynex is at her best in music closest
to her, the Wilde, Orr, and Leighton especially. But the better-known
works are much better-done elsewhere - Maria Kliegel for Fauré,
say - and this does not really transcend the background music
category.

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